The Beatles' Favorite Indian Retreat Reopens to the Public

Visit the spot where Paul McCartney wrote the Beatles hit "Back in the USSR" among 40 other songs.

Beatlemania has found a new home in northern India. The retreat where the famed band wrote more than 40 songs that would later land on The White Album, and Abbey Road, was reopened to tourists on Tuesday after nearly 40 years of disrepair. The Chaurasi Kutia ashram has been completely renovated by park officials, who took over the retreat in 2003. Complete with walking trails, gardens, a room covered in Beatles and yoga-themed graffiti, and more construction on the way, the rural retreat is a bucket-list item for all fans.

John Lennon and George Harrison stayed for six weeks with the meditation guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (known to Beatles fans for his role in the song "Sexy Sadie"), while Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr left a few weeks earlier. Located in the Rajaji National Park, about 5 hours north of New Delhi, the ashram was also a favorite of the Beach Boys, whose own stay coincided with the Beatles and their entourage in February 1968.

Last year, Mike Love of the Beach Boys spoke to Rolling Stone about the bands’ time together at the ashram, saying “We spent a lot of time together in India… That was pretty unusual for any group of any stature, let alone two of the top groups of the 60s, being in one place at one time for reasons other than music,” he said. “It was a very special time.”

After the Maharishi left in the 1970s, his followers followed suit, the forest around the ashram overtook the area. Today, the space has been cleared an spruced up to attract nearby yogis and tourists alike. Indian tourists will pay 150 rupees ($2.23) to enter while foreign visitors will be charged 700 rupees ($10.42).

“We want to conserve the place and retain its original charm,” DVS Khati, chief wildlife warden of the state of Uttarakhand, told the Guardian. “We plan to have a yoga center here as well soon. We hope the ashram...will give a major boost to tourism in the region.”